Games Workshop’s new Hedonites of Slaanesh battletome brings the Lord of Hysteria, a Spearhead, and fresh Slaanesh boxed sets to Age of Sigmar.
After the Cities of Sigmar wave wrapped up, the Age of Sigmar roadmap looked pretty bare. But now a brand-new battletome drop is giving players something to look at other than 11th Edition 40k.
The Dark Prince’s followers are up next, and Games Workshop just dropped all the details on a new character, a new book, and a pile of boxed sets to go with them.
We don’t have the rules yet, but we expect them to preview what the new character can do soon. Still, this is a pretty clear sign that Slaanesh is getting the full glow-up, along with a solid look at what’ll be hitting carts when pre-orders open soon.
Either way, if you’ve been waiting for an excuse to start a Hedonites army, this might be the one.
- Lord of Hysteria: a new support character joining the Lord of Hubris and Lord of Pain, with optional weapons and helm parts.
- Battletome: Hedonites of Slaanesh: updated army rules plus new battle traits built around tempting your opponent.
- Boxed sets: the Decadent Host army box, the Epicurean Revellers Spearhead, the returning Thricefold Discord, and the Accursed Reflection Regiment of Renown.
The New Lord of Hysteria
Joining the Lord of Hubris and Lord of Pain, the Lord of Hysteria rounds out the trio of Slaanesh support characters. This one is obsessed with being known as the greatest reveller of them all and has sold their soul to the pleasure-daemons for a nasty mix of physical prowess and the ability to send their followers into a frenzy.
The sculpt offers a couple of build choices: two ceremonial weapons (a mirrored blade or a censer) and two different helm-toppers. Plus, the footwear on the model is possibly the wildest part of the whole mini, if you ask us. The new Lord struts around on hooves, which add some height and double as a not-so-subtle nod to the self-inflicted pain these maniacs put themselves through to impress their followers.
Battletome: Hedonites of Slaanesh
The rules for the Lord of Hysteria live in the new Battletome: Hedonites of Slaanesh, alongside updated rules for fielding the whole army. GW says the book is stuffed with background lore on Slaanesh and the mortals and daemons who serve the god, plus the usual run of painted photography.
The part worth keeping an eye on in the upcoming reveals are the new battle traits, which revolve around temptations. The way GW frames it, your opponent either resists or gives in, and neither outcome works out well for them. We’ll reserve judgment until the actual rules show up, but a mechanic built around forcing bad decisions on the other player is a fun place to start.
If you want to see how GW has been reshaping all these books, our look at the 4th Edition battletomes is a solid starting point.
The Decadent Host Boxed Set
If you want to grow a Hedonite force in a hurry, the Decadent Host boxed set is built around the mortal followers of the Dark Prince. Here’s everything you get:
- Sigvald
- 3x Slaangor Fiendbloods
- 5x Myrmidesh Painbringers
- 5x Slickblade Seekers
- 10x Blissbarb Archers (plus their blissbrew homunculus)
It works as a starting point for a new army or a top-up for an existing one, and GW notes it doubles as the base for the new Decadent Host Army of Renown out of the battletome. For a sense of where it slots into your collection, our Hedonites of Slaanesh army guide breaks down how the faction plays.
Spearhead: Epicurean Revellers
For the daemon side of the faction, there’s a new Spearhead box. The new Epicurean Revellers let you earn bonuses based on how many units you have on the table, which suits the swarm-the-board style Slaanesh players already love.
The box gives you:
- 1x The Thricefold Discord
- 3x Fiends
- 20x Daemonettes
- 5x Seekers
That’s a tidy little starter army on its own, and a solid way to get a Spearhead-legal force assembled without hunting down kits one at a time.
The Thricefold Discord
The Thricefold Discord is three squabbling Heralds, with each one trying to one-up the other two. They started life as a Warhammer Underworlds warband, and now they’re getting folded into the core Hedonites roster, which is a nice second life for a set of sculpts that a lot of Slaanesh players never picked up the first time around.
Each daemon specializes in a particular Sacred Seduction, so you’ll get a few different battlefield perks depending on how you run them.
The Accursed Reflection (Regiment of Renown)
Here’s the one box that reaches outside the faction. The Accursed Reflection is a new Regiment of Renown that Disciples of Tzeentch, Helsmiths of Hashut, Maggotkin of Nurgle, Skaven, and Slaves to Darkness players can all bring along. The set is made up of a Contorted Epitome, Wheels of Excruciation, a Mesmerizing Mirror, and a Dreadful Visage.
On the table, it spits out Manifestations of Excess, which opens up some new options for any Grand Alliance Chaos army. So, if you main a different Chaos faction and you’ve ever wanted to try a little bit of Slaanesh’s shenanigans without committing to a full army, this is an easy way to do it.
Final Thoughts on the New Hedonites of Slaanesh
GW says the Lord of Hysteria, the battletome, and the boxed sets will be up for pre-order soon, with a closer look at the actual Hedonites rules promised on Warhammer Community before then. So the next thing to watch for is that rules article, because that’s where we’ll find out whether the temptation battle traits are as fun as they sound on paper.
The bigger picture is the release calendar. June is usually when GW drops the new battlescroll and warscroll updates, so a fresh Slaanesh book right near the end of the month lines up nicely with the rest of the usual AoS update cycle.
Regardless, after a little bit of a gap following Cities of Sigmar, having a confirmed faction in the pipeline is a decent sign for where the back half of the year is headed.
🔗 Related Reads:
- Hedonites of Slaanesh Army Guide & Rules
- Age of Sigmar Release Roadmap
- Hedonites of Slaanesh Battletome Rules Update Spotted
- What’s Happening to Battletomes in 4th Edition AoS
- GW Reveals a New Type of Age of Sigmar Battletome
- Cities of Sigmar Wave Pre-Orders
